Chileans show bags that are soluble in non-polluting water

Chilean engineers presented Tuesday plastic bags soluble in water non polluting. Their secret? Replace the oil with limestone in the chemical formula.

"Our product is a limestone derivative that has no impact on the environment," said Roberto Astete, director of SoluBag at a press conference in Santiago.

Along with Cristian Olivares, also behind the project, they hope to market their product, based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA, soluble in water), from October in Chile, one of the first countries in the world. Latin America to ban the use of traditional plastic bags

"It's like making bread," he added. "To make bread, you need flour and other ingredients, our flour is polyvinyl alcohol and other ingredients, approved by the FDA (the agency responsible for food safety and medicines in the United States). USA), which allowed us to manufactures different products "plastic with this material.

In addition to the clbadic bag, another reusable canvas bag was also presented. The latter, more resistant, dissolves in hot water, the first in cold water.

Once the bags are dissolved in the face of journalists, "there is carbon in the water," said Astete. Which, he continued, "has no effect on the human body" before drinking water.

"The big difference between the traditional plastic and ours is that the first will stay between 150 and 500 years in the wild and ours only five minutes.We decide when we destroy it," added Mr. Astete. "At present, we can recycle (the bags) in his pan or washing machine."

According to them, the cost of their product and its method of manufacture is similar to that of the current plastic bags, it is enough to change the formula.